Seawell’s Ordinary, the shining survivor of decades, is in the hands of a family that honors its past. Joe Volpe, vice president of Auto Max, said, “When we bought this place, we were told a gas station was also looking at the site. Who knows what they would have done with this house? They probably would have taken it down.” The family began a careful preservation of the ancient structure and kept its color, pea gravel parking lot, and even a new service building, in line with the colonial color scheme of the old building. “We did not want it to deviate from how the who took over the operations in the mid-1950s and remained there until 1973. During this period Route 17 was widened from two to four lanes. The Ordinary had to be moved back from the roadside and placed on a reconstructed basement. It was reoriented at that time from facing north toward facing the highway....